Sarah Everard report: All the key opportunities to catch Wayne Couzens missed by police

For free actual time breaking information alerts despatched straight to your inbox join to our breaking information emails

Sign up to our free breaking information emails

A sequence of crimson flags have been missed about killer Wayne Couzens that meant he was ready to stay an armed police officer regardless of being a serial intercourse offender, a damning report has discovered.

The Home Office-commissioned report discovered that Couzens’s historical past of alleged sexual offending and choice for excessive violent pornography dated again almost 20 years earlier than Sarah Everard’s homicide.

Couzens kidnapped, raped and murdered 33-year-old advertising and marketing govt Sarah Everard in March 2021, earlier than burning and dumping her physique close to Dover.

Follow reside updates on the report right here

The report discovered Couzens might have been sacked if vetting and investigations into indecent publicity studies over the years had been extra thorough.

It didn’t make any conclusive discovering that Miss Everard’s homicide might have been prevented. So what have been the key opportunities police missed to catch Couzens?

Allegations of indecent publicity

Couzens confronted a string of allegations of indecent publicity over the years, with two investigations in 2015 and 2021 of “poor quality” which have been “destined to fail from the start”, the report discovered.

In November 2008 Couzens uncovered himself to a girl in south London, and whereas the offence was reported at the time no suspect was recognized.

In 2015, whereas working for the Civil Nuclear Constabulary, Couzens once more uncovered himself however regardless of the victims offering police together with his automobile registration, he was by no means arrested or charged.

Allegations of kid sexual assault

He was accused of getting sexually assaulted a toddler “barely in her teens” whereas in his early 20s, and the inquiry recognized 4 extra victims who had not reported sexual crimes to the police, and it’s feared there could also be extra.

It mentioned that there have been additionally allegations that he possessed indecent photographs of youngsters.

Allegations of different rape and assault

At some level between late 2006 and early 2007 Couzens is suspected of raping a girl at a singles night time at a bar in east London. The sufferer once more got here ahead after the homicide of Miss Everard.

There was one other allegation of rape in October 2019 which befell beneath a bridge in London. In the summer time of 2019, Couzens additionally sexually assaulted a person in a bar in Kent.

When the sufferer remonstrated with him, Couzens mentioned he was a police officer and invited him exterior to carry out a intercourse act. The man additionally got here ahead to police following Couzens’ arrest for the homicide of Miss Everard.

High ranges of debt

Couzens, who grew to become a particular constable for Kent Police in 2002, failed vetting to turn out to be an everyday officer in 2008, however was allowed to stay as a particular with all the similar powers as an everyday constable and was permitted to work alone.

When he joined the Civil Nuclear Constabulary, an outdoor power – Thames Valley Police – carried out vetting and located that he shouldn’t be recruited, in step with guidelines round officers with heavy private money owed, however this was ignored.

In 2018, when he joined the Metropolitan Police, a search of the Police National Database, an intelligence database, discovered “no trace”.